Couple Buy 6 Mount Dora Buildings, Plan Hotel

MOUNT DORA — A husband-wife investment team has bought six buildings in downtown Mount Dora and plans to renovate two of them into an upstairs hotel.

Real estate investors Tim and Joy Johnson, who operate Great Little Cars Inc. on Highland Street, said Monday they have purchased the property from developer Richard Hanks for an undisclosed price.

The property consists of six storefronts on the east side of Donnelly Street - from the Village Coffee Pot Inc. to the Donnelly Shoppe on 5th Avenue. Two of the buildings are two-story structures that Johnson wants to renovate into a hotel, complete with balcony and antebellum furniture.

Johnson said a hotel chain from West Palm Beach, which he would not name, had contacted them about opening a hotel downtown. However, Johnson did say tentative plans call for a hotel similar to Park Plaza Hotel in Winter Park.

''We haven't even looked upstairs in the buildings because the previous owner still has property up there. Once we do, we can make positive plans as to the feasibility of putting a hotel up there,'' he said.

No courthouse records of the transaction were available. Johnson, who said the property was purchased from Hanks last week, would not disclose the amount of money he paid for the property because it might affect ongoing negotiations for other properties in downtown Mount Dora.

Hanks, who lives in Mount Dora, could not be reached for comment.

Johnson said he also has been contacted by representatives from an Orlando health food store and a ladies apparel shop in Winter Park who want to set up shop in the buildings. However, he would not disclose the name of either business.

He said he plans to restore the exterior of the buildings with a European accent, which he said would complement the village-type aura of downtown Mount Dora. Restoration is to begin in three weeks.

''Right now downtown has a quaint, old Florida village feel to it,'' Johnson said. ''My idea is not to change the ambiance but to enhance it - give the buildings a New England and somewhat European feel.''

Bill Smathers, owner of the Lamp Post restaurant on North Donnelly Street, said Johnson's proposed development would energize the downtown business activity, currently the home of specialty shops and antique nooks.

''This will help downtown a lot. The blight of downtown businesses has been the malls, but now a lot of people are going back to the specialty shops. That's the case here.''

Mayor Jeff Book said the development would ''enhance the business activity'' downtown.